DC-Baltimore Area
Located less than an hour away from each other, Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC have longed formed a symbotic relationship. By many statistical counts, they are considered the same area with scarely more than suburbs and a few small towns between them. This massive power base, which emerged as a single domain in the early twentieth century, was ruled by a Nosferatu Acolyte named Linus the Tall. For decades, Kindred could travel between the population centers as if they were one even though in the early 1900s there was much more forest and wild areas between them. Everyone assumed it was the mortals work that kept the area safe and the use of the automobile made the passage viable in one night. History The cities of Baltimore and Washington are fundamentally different, to be sure. The former is a major port--one of the largest on the East Coast. It's comparatively higher population density and seedy areas makes feeding easy. Until 1870, it was the second largest city in the country and currently holds 2.6 million in its metro area. Today it is an economic powerhouse, with a growing upperclass and a bustling seaport. The latter is an intellectual's haven, with one of the most educated work forces in the country. While Baltimore has--among others--John Hopkins University, the DC area contains many famous institutions of higher learning: Georgetown, American University, Catholic University, George Washington University, and so on. At the same time, Washington's home to some of the poorest people in the country and, of course, is the world capital of mortal politics. There are 5.2 million souls housed in its sprawling metro area. The very different natures of the two cities lent to tremendous synergy opportunities. Naturally, fledglings took advantage of the integration first, but ancilla and even elders started getting doing it, if nothing else than out of neccessity. By the 1980s, the area was functionally one massive city of about seven million people. The Sundering The state of the DC-Baltimore Area lent itself to easily hold many more than the standard city of its size; the flexibility that comes with having two city centers allowed the Kindred population to balloon to about 160 undead. If one city had a problem, feeding shifted to the other and then back again. But that suddenly ended in August of 1988 when Linus disappeared. Linus was a weak Prince and always said nobody gave him enough respect or understood all he did for the city. It didn't surprised anyone when they heard he was killed in a power grab. But it is equally likely he stepped down in secret, slipping into torpor or fleeing town, to taunt those that underestimated him. It's also possible he's walking one of the cities to this day, laughing as his old subjects continue to recover from his disappearence. The moment Linus left office, the roads connecting Balitmore and DC became more dangerous for Kindred than any road in the country. Cars would stall miles from shelter and exits. Flat tires became more common than inflated ones. Gas tanks started leaking. Many went missing. Did Linus put a curse on the highways when he left or was he suppressing one all this time? Perhaps he calmed the local werewolf population and, with him gone, the agreement was null and void. All attempts to find the old Prince failed. There were two cities now. At the time, a large part of the Kindred population was in DC. By this time, most kept a haven in each city for convinence but panic quickly set in. Combined with a population that could not sustain that many undead for long, the violent crime rate shot up. By the following year, it was twice what it was in 1987 and continuing to grow. Many Kindred met their Final Death in these years. Washington From the ashes Hala Bidir, a Ventrue Invictus, retook DC. A conservative woman, she invested most of her politicking in DC's many powerbases with special emphasis on the DoD and NSA. (Originally from Iran, Hala likes knowing everything the government knows about and is doing with her homeland.) When The Sundering happened, she used her influence to round up the panicky, hide evidence of the supernatural and restore order. It was a painful process, resisted by to accustomed to Linus's lax rule. But in a few years, crime rates were back down and now Hala Bidir held the city. Baltimore After The Sundering robbed Baltimore of most of its Kindred population, a fledgling Daeva named Victor Aegis smelled opportunity. Left alone for the first time by his Sire who was taking care of business in the District, it looked like Victor would never again have to suffer his wrath or his rules. Victor abandoned the Ordo Dracul and took up the mantle of the Carthians on the behest of his Movement friend, Daedalus. Seizing the immense power vacuum that had suddenly gripped Baltimore, Victor took root and some key arenas and then doled out the rest to other fledglings who, in turn, backed his rise to power. He then authorized a repopulation effort with preference given to his fellow Carthians, of course.